Secondary sources are sources that are not legal authority. It is ideal to start with a secondary source because the source is able to give a broad-brush understanding of what one is about to encounter. These types of sources can be used to educate a person on what that area of law is about and what elements might be needed to state a claim. Secondary sources generally have references within the document to find other primary sources of law. Source
Types of secondary sources include:
A treatises is an overview of the law subject. They can be helpful as they speak on a specific topic of the law and usually reference to cases while also giving an outline of elements to look for that are important to that legal topic.
Legal encyclopedias come in different forms. They are generally a compilation of articles on a general legal topic. They are helpful because they can lead to primary sources.
American Law Reports are a type of encyclopedia in this area.
Law review articles are usually written by law students or law professors. They offer a more in depth look at certain subjects and reflect scholarly opinions or critiques on the law. These also cite to a plethora of primary sources.
A legal dictionary is a specialized book that has legal definitions in it. Mostly anything from regular legal terms to Latin phrases can be found in the dictionary. One of the most well known dictionary's is Black's Law Dictionary; however, today there are a variety of free sources online. These are important as one must understand the meaning behind a word prior to proceeding with their law suit.
Another source that is online is called Wex. This is through Cornell Law School. Cornell has been advocating for the general public to have access to law through it's Legal Information Institute founded in 1992.
Some of the following terms pulled from Wex will come in handy when discussing an Equal Protection Claim:
Restatements are just that, a restatement of the black letter law.
They are often done by people, such as lawyers and judges, that have a lot of experience with the subject.
They often offer illustrations and examples to help with the context of what the law is trying to say. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a restatement of constitutional law, but the restatements come in various other topics that may be helpful.
While these sources should not be the first on your list to review- they can be helpful in terms such as finding the right key words to search. Secondary sources lead to primary sources of law, but what if you don't even know what to search? How could you find a secondary source if you do not have the correct key words to look up?
The following sources may be helpful in generating key words to search during your search for secondary sources:
